Mormon 8: Moroni Sees Our Day

Book of Mormon Student Study Guide, (2000), 184–185

The writings of Mormon’s son Moroni begin in Mormon 8. He wrote that his father was killed in battle and that he, Moroni, was left alone. In the rest of the chapter, Moroni wrote about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in the latter days by the power of God. His father had commanded him to write part of it (see Mormon 8:1), and the rest he recorded from visions the Savior had shown him concerning the latter days (see vv. 34–41).Moroni realized that no one in his day would read the record and that he was writing to our day. Noting that Moroni and other Book of Mormon prophets had seen our day, President Ezra Taft Benson counseled: “If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, ‘Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?’” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1986, 5; or Ensign, Nov. 1986, 6). Ask these questions as you read this chapter and as you continue to the end of the Book of Mormon.

After Jesus Christ visited them, no one was called a “Nephite” or a “Lamanite”; all of the people were united in Him. Later, the people began to separate themselves into groups again and call themselves Lamanites or Nephites, according to their beliefs and traditions, not necessarily because of whom they descended from. Consequently, when we read that the Nephites were entirely destroyed, it means that all those who considered themselves followers of the Nephite tradition were destroyed. There could have been descendants of Nephi, Sam, Jacob, and Joseph among the Lamanites who were not destroyed as a people.